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Blog Week 2

For today Blog I pick two subcultures which one was existed in 1960s, the 1st subculture is Mods and 2nd Rockers. The reason I pick this 2 particular subcultures is that I enjoyed reading they history and they lifestyle.

Between 1960 and 1990 two subcultures such as ( Mods and Rockers) was existed in Britain. In these subcultures more likely was involved working class rather than upper class. The middle classes were able to buy inexpensive motorcars, and motorcycles became transport for the poor.

The Mods is a subculture that originated in London, England. Mods teens and young adults began using their disposable income to buy stylish clothes. They wore designer suits protected by Parka jackets. Jobling and Crowley called the mod subculture “fashion-obsessed and hedonistic cult of the hyper-cool” young adults who lived in metropolitan London or the new towns of the south. Mods sometimes sewed fishhooks or razor blades into the backs of their lapels to shred the fingers of assailants. Weapons were often in evidence; cashes, bike chains and flick knives being favored. They rode Vespa or Lambretta Italian scooters bedecked with mirrors and mascots. Scooters were chosen over motorbikes because scooters’ use of body paneling and concealed moving parts made them cleaner and less likely to stain an expensive suit with grease.

Scootering led to the wearing of military parkas to protect costly suits and trousers from mud and rain. Mods listened to 1960s ska music, soul and R&B, as well as British bands such as The Who, The Small Faces and The Kinks. The original mod scene was also associated with amphetamine-fuelled all-night dancing at clubs and going to the house parties. Coffee bars were attractive to youths, because in contrast to typical British pubs. Coffee bars had jukeboxes, which in some cases reserved some of the space in the machines for the students’ own records. In the late 1950s, coffee bars were associated with jazz and blues, but in the early 1960s, they began playing more R&B music. Female mods dressed androgynously, with short haircuts, men’s trousers or shirts (sometimes their boyfriend’s), flat shoes, and little makeup — often just pale foundation, brown eye shadow, white or pale lipstick and false eyelashes. Female mods pushed the boundaries of parental tolerance with their miniskirts. Mods were taking amphetamines or speed, to stay awake all night and party well after hard working week. The mods subculture was considered more female then male. Mods had very similar haircuts and clothes.

Rockers subculture was mainly centered on British café and racer motorcycles. Rockers bought standard factory-made motorcycles and stripped them down, tuning them up and modifying them to appear like racing bikes. Rockers rode motorbikes – often at 100mph with no crash helmets, they wore a classic open-face helmet, aviator goggles and a white silk scarf to protect them from the elements. Other common items included, T-shirts, leather caps, Levi’s or Wrangler jeans, leather trousers, tall motorcycle boots (often made by Lewis Leathers) or brothel creepers. Rockers generally favored 1950s rock and roll, mostly by artists like Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent. They had no knowledge of the different sorts of drugs. To them amphetamines, cannabis, heroins were all drugs – something to be hated. Their ritual hatred of Mods and other sub-cultures was based in part on the fact that these people were believed to take drugs and were therefore regarded as sissies. Their dislike of anyone connected with drugs was intense. In the United Kingdom, rockers were often engaged in brawls with mods.